Hezbollah Says Israeli Response a Surprise  —  A senior Hezbollah official said Tuesday the guerrilla group did not expect Israel to react so strongly to its capture of two Israeli soldiers.  —  Mahmoud Komati, deputy chief of Hezbollah's political arm, also told The Associated Press …

U.N.: Israeli airstrike hits U.N. observer post  —  Sources: Condoleezza Rice floats plan to end conflict  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) — An Israeli airstrike hit a United Nations post in southern Lebanon late Tuesday, killing at least two of the agency's observers, according to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

Top Iraqi's White House Visit Shows Gaps With U.S.  —  Iraqis buried their dead Monday from another suicide bombing.  Prime Minister Maliki has tried without success to end such violence.  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 24 — When Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki visits the White House on Tuesday …

Spazeboy and Me Get Chucked By Holy Joe, Bush-Style  —  I drove all the way up to Waterbury yesterday excited about the prospect of seeing Bill Clinton speak.  Whatever one may think of Bill, his politics and his legacy, his defiance in the face of the right-wing hate machine onslaught are inspirational.

50 percent of U.S. says Iraq had WMDs  —  Half of Americans now say Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the United States invaded the country in 2003 — up from 36 percent last year, a Harris poll finds.  Pollsters deemed the increase both "substantial" and "surprising" …

Introducing NewAssignment.Net  —  Enterprise reporting goes pro-am.  Assignments are open sourced.  They begin online.  Reporters working with smart users and blogging editors get the story the pack wouldn't, couldn't or didn't.  They raise the money too.  Q and A explains.

Good Luck, Mr. Leopold  —  After giving Jason Leopold the heads up on my story almost two weeks ago, he claimed I was threatening him.  I did no such thing but this was a tactic used by Leopold, Larisa Alexandrovna of Raw Story, and John Dean, their lackey - allege threats where there were none.

50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill  —  #1 Michelle Persaud, 27  —  Staff counsel  —  Michelle Persaud's delicate features burst into a smile as she describes the mistake many men make with her.  —  Seeing her dark eyes and mocha skin, her flowing black tresses and expansive lashes …

Another Trip to the Curt Weldon Employment Agency  —  As I have previously noted here, being a friend or relative of Congressman Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican, appears to be a surer path to gainful employment than a Harvard MBA.  To review: one of the congressman's daughters got …

60 years later, NPR's Schorr is still a 'precious resource'  —  The media mix By Peter Johnson  —  Daniel Schorr is used to producers popping into his Washington, D.C., office at National Public Radio to ask, on deadline: Which war came first, Korea or Vietnam?  (Answer: Korea.)

Two Views of the Same News Find Opposite Biases  —  You could be forgiven for thinking the television images in the experiment were from 2006.  They were really from 1982: Israeli forces were clashing with Arab militants in Lebanon.  The world was watching, charges were flying, and the air was thick with grievance, hurt and outrage.

Greenwald's sock puppets: The worst blog scandal ever?  —  I have friends involved in this so let me choose my words carefully.  I'm not saying it wasn't worth doing.  I'm not saying it's a bad thing; as with pizza, there's no such thing as a "bad" blog scandal.  Alls I'm saying is, how does it compare?

WAKING NIGHTMARES:  —  A week ago, I entertained a nightmare scenario whereby Moqtada Sadr sends his Mahdi Army militia to fight alongside Hezbollah.  The nightmare would be Israel attacking Sadr in retaliation for his attacks on the IDF or Israeli civilians, thereby prompting the inevitable …

Nice Rats, Nasty Rats: Maybe It's All in the Genes  —  On an animal-breeding farm in Siberia are cages housing two colonies of rats.  In one colony, the rats have been bred for tameness in the hope of mimicking the mysterious process by which Neolithic farmers first domesticated an animal still kept today.

Stand up to US, voters tell Blair  —  63% say PM has tied Britain too close to White House  —  Britain should take a much more robust and independent approach to the United States, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today, which finds strong public opposition to Tony Blair's close working relationship with President Bush.

Best of the Web  —  Funny Money?  —  A reader noticed something curious in a video from last night's "NBC Nightly News."  Richard Engel, the network's Beirut bureau chief, is reporting from southern Lebanon, and at 1:07 in the video, as he's saying, "In Sidon, we found part …